


I Can't Get You Out Of My Head

by jeffannies



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-09-26 16:42:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20392870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeffannies/pseuds/jeffannies
Summary: AU where Annie is a teacher, and Jeff's kid is in her class. And they literally cannot keep away from each other.





	1. The Beginning

“It’s a pleasure to meet you! Thanks for coming today!” 

Jeff could hear a voice ringing through the hallway, and he immediately rolled his eyes. Did all teachers had to be so perky and well, annoying? 

He hated these parent-teacher meetings. He really didn't want to be here. At all. 

Mostly because it meant he had to spend more than five minutes with his ex-wife, Claire. But also because there were better things to do than meet a Miss Edison for an introductory session. Quite frankly, this was a conversation that could have easily have been held on the phone. He would have preferred that. 

But he did it for Noah, because he loved him and no matter what, he wanted to be a good Dad. And if that meant taking a break from work, and meeting with his ex, and dealing with an overly preppy teacher, Jeff would do it for him.

He strolled into the classroom and looked around. There she was, the dreaded ex, with who he assumed was Noah’s new teacher for the year. 

“You’re late, Jeff,” Claire chided, giving him her signature glare. 

He refrained from rolling his eyes and stepped towards the two women, “Sorry. Traffic,” he said bluntly. 

“Not to worry, Mr. Winger,” Miss Edison turned around, and met Jeff's eye with a smile. 

He gulped.

She was good looking, he couldn’t ignore that. She looked young too – he guessed around twenty-something, and she was short. He practically towered over her from where he was stood, and he had barely even got past the doorway. She was kind of cute, actually. 

He had the feeling she was one of those people who was endlessly happy – and it weirdly seemed infectious. He almost wanted to crack a smile with the way she was looking at him. But he didn't. 

“I’m Miss Edison, but please, call me Annie. I’m going to be Noah’s teacher this year!” She announced with a beaming smile, and stepped towards him with her hand out, ready for a handshake.

“But you already know that,” Annie giggled.

He reciprocated, and followed Claire towards the chair the teacher had neatly arranged by her desk. They sat in silence,

She took quick steps towards them, holding out two pamphlets she had prepped earlier that day, and smiled once more.

“This is the curriculum for this year, and from what I’ve heard about Noah, I’m sure we’ll get along just fine. I also have my suggestion boxed positioned just here,” she pointed to the corner of her desk, and there sat a bright blue, floral box with a crisp, white label. "Just in case you ever want to bring up a concern or something anonymously."

It was weirdly cute how much effort she had put into this 5 minute meeting, Jeff thought. She had food and drinks sat on a table by the door, despite the fact that her guests weren’t in the room long enough to enjoy them, and her classroom was already decorated even though the school year hadn’t even started. 

He found himself even admiring the way her eyes gleamed when she spoke about the syallbus, and how passionate she seemed about it all - and he never usually gave a crap about all this sentimental stuff. 

Jeff couldn’t help but think she worked like a thunderbolt - that she was on a level he was not familiar with at all. While he was slow and steady, she was fast, yet still clear and concise. She sped through topics and battled endless questions from Claire like a pro - he was impressed. 

Plus, she was pretty good to look at too. Which, to be honest, he knew was not a good thought to have about his kid’s new teacher, but the way the petite brunette stood in front of him, her pink dress flowing in the summer’s breeze... – his thought process stopped there as Claire nudged him hard in the side. He blinked. 

“What?”

“She said do you have any questions, Jeff.” 

“Oh. No questions. You seem to have a good grip of what’s going on here.” 

Claire huffed in response, and looked back towards the woman stood in front of her. 

“Well thank you both for your time, I appreciate it. And do help yourself to a coffee and a cookie, I made them myself! I look forward to seeing you guys more often, and I'm really looking forward to teaching Noah!” she offered another friendly smile at Claire, who got up and walked towards the door, offering a weak farewell.

Then, Annie caught Jeff’s eye and offered him a friendly glance, as if to silently thank him for being there and not questioning her methods.

They said goodbye, and with that, he followed Claire out of the room, helping himself to one of Annie’s cookies on the way out. Damn, she was good, he thought. 

“Well, she’s young,” was all Claire had to say as they walked together down the hallway, towards the exit. 

“Yeah,” Jeff added. Followed by a moments silence, he felt kind of awkward acknowledging that.

“You’re taking Noah to school for his first day, right?”

“Sure.”

They parted ways, and as Jeff got in his car, he couldn’t help but feel weirdly excited to be back here on Monday. God, this wasn't happening.


	2. Mr. Winger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just another chapter to set the scene - I'm thinking of doing every chapter from their different perspectives so far. Let me know what you guys think!

Annie hadn’t stopped thinking about him.

She kept telling herself how inappropriate it all was – to be sat daydreaming about one of the dads she met at her school, but she hadn’t met someone like Mr. Winger before.

He was so effortlessly cool – or at least that’s how he made himself look. It seemed to ooze out of him, she just knew he had perfectly curated his look, even if he acted like he didn’t care what anyone thought. She'd always wanted to be cool. She hoped he thought she looked cool.

She felt like a teenager with a crush, thought he was in no way about to doodle "Future Mrs Winger" on her notebooks, she couldn't get the man out of her head. He was moulded into her every thought and she hated not being in control of what was going on inside her head.

“Annie. It’s your turn.”

Her thoughts were interrupted by her roommates, Troy and Abed, who were sat opposite her at the table, pointing at the Clue board in front of them.

“Oh, sorry guys,” she said, grabbing the dice and rolling. Her move was pretty unsuccessful, she hadn’t managed to make it in any room yet to guess.

“You ok, Annie?” Troy asked, and the two boys shot each other a worried glance.

Abed took his turn, heading to the kitchen, ready to make an accusation.

“I’m fine,” she answered. “Just worrying about the start of a new year, is all.”

The boys held back a sigh of relief, and Abed resumed his turn by announcing his guess.

Annie wanted to say she put a lot of effort into the game – after all, she loved an outlet for her competitiveness, but she couldn’t get out of her head today.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! She kept telling herself.

She was a professional. And really good teachers don’t think about their student’s dads.

Oh god. Why was this happening to to her?!

-

Her first day as a qualified teacher rolled around soon enough, and Annie was set. She was ready. In fact, she had been for weeks.

She had her notebooks, gel pens, a folder full of print-out sheets, handouts, books. Her backpack was crammed with stationary, so much so that it bulked out behind her.

Troy and Abed had commented that she looked like a turtle with it on. Not exactly the look she was going for.

She ignored their taunts as she left for work, wishing them a good day as she slammed the front door to their apartment.

The drive was short - Greendale wasn't a big place after all, but Annie loved arriving in record time. She had to be early, after all, to set up. She had even managed to arrive before a lot of her fellow co-workers this morning. Something she was weirdly excited about.

Heading to her new classroom, Annie smiled. She had come a long way from her days at Greendale Community College. She always knew she wanted to do something good, give something back to the world, and she remembered just how much she had cherished some of her teachers growing up, and had decided if she could leave as much on a mark as her on just one student, she’d be happy.

Plus, she loved learning. And while elementary school didn’t offer much of a challenge in terms of finding new fun facts and general information, Annie quite liked the fact that she’d be passing down knowledge to a new generation.

She set up her desk and sat down on her new chair, smiling at her surroundings. This was hers for the year. She couldn't wait to get started.

-

Annie had kind of lost track of time as she re-organised her book shelf. She couldn’t decide if alphabetical or publication date, or even topic of choice was the best way to organise them.

Before she knew it, the first bell had rung, and children had started pouring in through the door, their parents eagerly tugging at their clothes, licking their fingers and padding their child’s faces to remove that one last bit of dirt.

Annie smiled, waving at them one by one as they all walked in.

The parents helped their children hang their coats, book bags and lunch boxes on their hooks and watched as they settled at their desks.

Annie followed suit, grabbing her backpack and placing an apple and a water bottle on her desk for later.

“Aren’t the students supposed to give you that?”

She turned around and there he stood, Mr. Winger, with Noah in tow.

Annie huffed. “I can get my own apples, thank you very much.”

He laughed, sitting Noah down at his marked seat, before looking back at her.

“And where do these go Miss Edison?”

“Just over here, Mr Winger,” she pointed to the back of the room, where other parents had congregated in circle, chatting and fretting about their kids.

“Jeff,” he corrected her. She blushed in return.

They silently walked towards the others and Annie pointed out Noah’s hook to his father.

She had pretended not to notice the burning feeling on her back as she walked ahead of him. She must have been imagining it, surely?

“Yay! We’re all set,” she smiled as her last student sat down at his desk, and the last parent hurried inside.

The parents then began to leave again, waving goodbye to their children and promising them to be there at 3pm sharp.

Annie walked back to the front of the room, admiring her new class.

“Bye, Miss Edison.”

She turned to look at the tall man stood in the doorway, and blushed again. Her heart started racing.

“Goodbye, Mr. Winger”


	3. Daddy and Miss Edison

Jeff always knew he was god’s gift to mankind. Or should he say womankind? Basically, everyone loved him. And he loved it.

He saw the way everyone looked at him. Moms in the school yard always flirted with him; they glanced at him longingly on the days he picked Noah up. Claire had always hated him for that.

As for men, well, some definitely loved him, but others wanted to be him. He could tell. 

He had a pretty good life after all. Sure, he was divorced - but he definitely should never have settled down with Claire anyway. Not that he regrets anything, because without his past, he never would've had an amazing son, nor could he prove he would not be a deadbeat dad like his was.

Anyway, he was happy being single, playing the field. Being with any girl he could. And he was definitely not looking for anything more than that. 

Plus he was living his dream. He had his own law firm.

Ok, it sounds better than it really is. It’s Greendale, it’s a small, self-owned business. But he did it himself, and he’s damn proud of it. 

And it meant he could set his own hours and make the rules as the big boss – meaning he could get Noah when he needed to, or treat himself to a scotch when he felt like it. 

So anyway, it wasn’t a surprise to him that Miss Edison – Annie – was into him. He could tell instantly that she had warmed up to him, more than any of the other parents too. He liked it. Knowing that once again, he had another girl fawning over him was the ego boost he craved. 

She was an attractive girl, for sure. He couldn’t help but check her out when he saw her. He actually wondered if it was legal for a teacher to wear dresses and skirts that were that short. 

He had found himself thinking about her often – looking forward to running into her on the school run – waiting to sneak a cheeky comment or flirty line when they spoke. 

Watching her blush and stutter to try and tame the topic of conversation was fun, it was almost a game to him. 

Jeff just loved attention, that was all it was.

At least that’s what he kept telling himself, anyway. 

They’d ran into each other most days. Jeff found himself more inclined to fetch Noah from school when Claire asked him to help out, and he found himself asking Noah more about his school day – and not settling for a measly “it was good” as the answer to his questioning.

He wondered what she did outside work. Whether he’d ever run into her by the office – so he could brag, obviously. Or if he’d see her at the mall. Or in a bar. 

Or if she was the kind of girl who was all work and no play. 

He hoped not.

-

“Hi Mr. Winger,” Annie offered him her signature smile, and Jeff found himself smiling back instantly. 

He told her to call him Jeff, but she always called him Mr. Winger in front of the kids. He found it funny that she was so specific about things.

“Hey, how was Noah today?” 

“Great! He did these for you,” Annie handed him 3 pieces of paper, blushing slightly. 

He raised a brow at them, grabbing the pictures that he had drawn and looking them over.

Noah had drawn 2 cats, both fat and fluffy – they were his favourite animal so Jeff had about 13 of those hung up around the apartment, no surprises there. But the third picture was different. He had labelled it “Daddy and Miss Edison”.

“Oh,” Jeff managed to laugh it off, but he was slightly taken aback by his son’s creation.

Why had he decided, of all things, to draw his dad and his teacher stood in a field of daisies? Sure, they were stick figures, with badly written names next to them, but why? Maybe Jeff was just thinking too much. He hoped she hadn't noticed.

“Yeah. I thought it was sweet he decided to draw me. He said we are best friends,” Annie offered with her light laugh, and Jeff smiled and nodded. 

“Is that all?” he winked, as Noah started to drag him out the class. He waited to see Annie’s signature blush, the kind that spread right across her cheeks, and left that cute little sparkle in her eye. And on cue, there it was. Result. 

“Bye, Miss Edison,” he finally said, getting rushed out the door by his child.

As they walked down the hallway, Jeff held onto his son with one hand, and held the drawings firmly in the other. 

“So, what’s this picture about?” he asked, showing Noah the stick figure duo.

“My favourite people,” his son replied simply, as if it was the most obvious answer.

Jeff was surprised, unsure what to say. He didn’t realise how much of an impression Annie had left on Noah already, he’d not been in her class for long.

“So what about Mommy?”

“Yeah I love Mommy too, but I drewed her a picture. Daddy needed one. And Miss Edison is nice and pretty."

“Fair enough,” was all Jeff said as he buckled Noah’s seat belt and set off for his apartment.

-

Jeff left Noah in the living room, sat in front of the TV watching Spongebob.

He made Noah’s favourite, mac and cheese, and stuck the drawing on the fridge. 

He shook his head. Don’t think about her. Don’t do it.

He grabbed his phone, choosing the first name in his contacts. 

Abby. That’ll do, he thought, and so he pressed send.

TXT: “You free tomorrow?”

-

Jeff felt much better about himself after his date.

Well, if you could even call it that. It was just two adults, meeting at his apartment for a glass of scotch and a quick screw. 

It had become his agreement with a regular rota of women - drinks and then falling into bed with each other. Never breakfast. Never a spoon or a cuddle. That was all he wanted, and that was all he offered. And it was fine.

He didn't have to think about their feelings - didn't have to deal with them when they were upset or angry. Didn't have to think about them at all, really, until he was texting them for their next meeting. That was he way he liked it. He was in control.

He didn't want to think about women for too long - hence why he was so agitated that a certain little brunette in a short skirt and sweater kept popping into his mind from time to time, especially when Noah wasn't around.

Jeff couldn't quite shake this attraction. Because he was attracted to her for sure, and he enjoyed the odd flirty comment he offered her, and liked watching her laugh and blush in return.

But he knew it wouldn't happen - it wasn't right. His son's teacher can't be another notch on his bedpost - or a subscriber to Jeff's everlasting mailing list of "you up?" text messages.

The bright side of all this? Having random girls round his house? 

"That another one of your conquests?" Jeff heard as he watched Abby leave his apartment. He turned around and there stood his next door neighbour - Britta Perry.

"Jealous?" he responded, about to close the door when she spoke again.

"Of you and her? Gross," she said dramatically. "Definitely not." 

"Whatever you say, Britta."

"Do you even remember her name?" 

"Of course I do. I'm not a dick. It's Annie --- ABBY!" he corrected himself, trying to hide the fact that he was embarrassed about this little slip of the tongue.

"Who's Annie then, Jeff?" Britta laughed, stepping closer so she could tease her neighbour easier. "Is that a girl you like? Ooooh Jeff has feelings. Jeff wants a girlfriend."

"What are we? 5? Grow up, Britta. And it was just a mistake, I've had a few drinks and my little friend there has worn me out. I'm going to bed." 

And with that he closed the door.

"Crap. What the hell was that?!" he said to himself as he slunk down the other side of the front door. He thought he had finally got her out of his head. He guessed that was no longer possible.


	4. Dinner for 5

When Annie got home from work that night, her smile hadn’t faded. She was beaming as she skipped through the front door, completely oblivious to Troy and Abed sat on the sofa, watching her footsteps. 

She continued towards her bedroom, humming sweetly.

“HEY,” they both called out in unison, stopping Annie in her tracks. She had gotten in the way of the TV and interrupted their Inspector Spacetime marathon.

“Oh sorry boys! I didn’t see you there,” she replied, though her smile hadn’t faded much.

She then skipped off towards her bedroom and closed her door.

“Annie’s about to experience some new plot developments,” Abed said.

“What do you mean?” Troy looked confused. Concerned even. “She’s not going to die, is she?!” 

“No,” Abed tapped his chin, thinking. “But I believe she’s about to experience some sort of romantic entanglement. That, or she’s no longer experiencing the worst part of her menstruation cycle.”

“Gross,” was all Troy said as he reached for the remote, turning the TV up louder to cover up the sound of Annie’s singing. 

-

She allowed herself have one night to fixate and fantasise about all things Jeff Winger – but that was it.

She vowed that once tomorrow came, she’d rid him of her thoughts. She’d find something else to focus on. Like a new hobby. Ooh! She could finally give the apartment the deep clean it deserved.

But for now… 

She fell onto her bed, closing her eyes as she pictured him.

He was too charming for his own good. She hated that he had so much control over her, making her blush all the time, so much so that she started to feel like a teen again. 

She felt adolescent, thinking about how she had a crush on him. But it couldn’t be more than that, she wouldn’t allow herself to do that. Not when she finally had the job of her dreams. He couldn’t jeopardise that. Even if his muscles looked great in those tight suits he wore whenever he visited… And there was something about his arms... She just wanted to be wrapped up inside them.

She wished she could get this all out of her system. 

Just run to him and grab him. Kiss him and feel his hands all over her body...

But so far, she had to settle for the dream version. And at least in that version, nobody got hurt, and she could be as inappropriate as she liked.

-

She couldn’t really remember falling asleep. She was pretty tired from the long week and had spent the better part of her Friday night daydreaming about Jeff, and watching the kinds of films Abed and Troy would never let her watch during their movie nights. Abed had once said Katherine Heigl offered nothing to the film industry, and Troy said he only liked films that had explosions in them, and no matter how hard she tried to convince them that 27 dresses was a good film, they’d never agree.

She woke up to the sound of someone knocking at her bedroom door, and a soft voice on the other side coaxing her awake.

“Annie, can we come in?” 

Troy and Abed opened the door slightly, peering in.

“Sure. What’s up?” she watched them sit down on the edge of her bed. They were being weirdly tentative.

“We just wanted to check on you as you didn’t come out last night. So, you got any plans this weekend?” Troy leaned towards her 

“Um. Nothing, why?” 

“I think we need to do something,” Abed suggested. “Something the viewers would want to see.”

“Sure, what are you guys thinking?” 

Troy and Abed shared a knowing glance, and turned to Annie, replying in unison, “The new Kickpuncher just came out. Wanna join us?” 

-

Normally, Annie wouldn’t have agreed to this. Kickpuncher wasn’t her thing in the slightest, but she appreciated that the boys wanted to spend time with her, and she needed a distraction if she was going to keep the promise she made herself yesterday. 

And Annie was never one to break a promise.

So she told herself that all Jeff thoughts were banned for the day, and instead she had to focus on the obscene film she had been dragged to see by her two best friends. 

She wasn’t really sure what was going on in the movie at all, other than a lot of meaningless fight scenes. Troy and Abed seemed to be enjoying it though, so Annie smiled along with them when they turned to her ‘to see if she had seen that really wild explosion’ or when they wanted to check that she had ‘spotted that awesome kick punch’. 

When the film finally ended, they left the theatre to get some food – Troy had been dying to try this new burger place, and Abed liked the fact it was named The Big Kahuna because he loved Pulp Fiction, so they headed there.

As they walked, the boys were discussing the best bits of the film, so Annie politely nodded along with the conversation even though she wasn’t really paying attention. She didn’t have much to say about it all. 

She looked around a bit aimlessly, watching people walk by. She loved doing this, people watching. She’d gotten quite good at it. 

She wasn’t Little Miss Popular in high school. While her classmates spent time at raging parties and skipped class, Annie was learning. Constantly. She loved a good book, loved teaching herself something new, and she obviously had to be the best, and know the most. So she picked up the odd skill and learned the odd fact. It was also fair to say a lot of her time interacting with others was with minimal, so most of what she learned was through observation – something she realised had in common Abed and probably why she could sympathise with him in college. 

She looked around when – it couldn’t be… She thought she was dreaming it, that he was a figment of her imagination. She was about to pinch herself when she realised it was real. There was Jeff Winger, walking towards them. 

“Jeff!” she announced, taking everyone by surprise. Troy and Abed stopped in their tracks, staring at the man walking towards them. 

“Jeff?” they mouthed to each other, as they stepped to the side to let the pair meet face to face.

“Hi, Annie,” Jeff replied. He looked back and spotted Noah hid behind his legs. “Say hi to Miss Edison.”

“Hi Noah,” Annie bent down to greet him. “What are you boys up to today?”

Her eyes met with Jeff’s, and her heart raced in her chest. She could feel it pounding – so much for forgetting all about him, she mused.

“BURGER!” was all Noah shouted, and Annie laughed in response. 

“We’re trying to find a good burger place around here, but someone’s a bit fussy,” Jeff offered. 

Annie could sympathise with his frustrations. It was a hot day out, and it’s not exactly like kids were known for their decisiveness. Before she could reply, Abed had jumped in.

“We’re going to the Big Kahuna. The burgers there sound awesome.”

Noah started to clap, pleased with the suggestion.

“Yeah, you should join us if you want,” Troy added. 

Jeff raised a brow, looking at the two men he had never met before who had just invited them to lunch.

“Uh, are you sure?” his eyes darted to Annie for reassurance.

“If you want to,” she replied, giving Abed and Troy a little stare. She was a little confused why her roommates seemed so eager to invite someone they had never met before to lunch with them. Especially Abed, he usually didn’t take so kindly to strangers. What was going on here?

And that's when she realised, she hadn’t even introduced them yet.

“This is Abed, and Troy, they’re my roommates,” Annie pointed to the pair, and they waved on cue. She wondered why they were being so nice – it was almost suspicious. 

“And this is Jeff and Noah. I’m Noah’s teacher.”

There. She had covered all bases.

“Nice to meet you,” Jeff ordered them a handshake each. “I don’t want to intrude on your plans though.”

“Nonsense,” Abed said, and with that, started to walk away. 

“Come with us, dudes. It’ll be fun,” Troy offered Noah a little fist bump, and then followed his best friend towards the restaurant.

Annie was still gobsmacked, unsure what to say or to do. Did she follow her friends and leave Jeff behind? (She didn't really want to to do that). Or did she wait and see what he wanted to do? Before she even had a chance to properly digest what had happened, Jeff started laughing.

“Guess we better catch up with them then.”

-

So there they were sat, all shoved into a booth at The Big Kahuna. Abed and Troy were currently engaged in a heated conversation over which Kickpuncher character was best. Annie was pleasantly surprised they were all here at once, that everyone seemed to have just agreed to this, as if it were perfectly normal. She couldn't believe it, in all honesty.

“They’re always like this,” Annie said, smiling across the table to Jeff and Noah. "They're a bit obsessed. But anyway, it’s nice to see you two. Have you had a good weekend so far boys?” 

“Yeah, nice for the week to be over,” Jeff sighed into his glass of water. “Sorry that we’ve been roped into your day out. You probably didn’t want to spend your weekend with one of your students, or even with their really good-looking dad.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’ll be nice to spend some time with people who don’t want to talk about that Kickpuncher stuff,” she said, making an effort to ignore the latter comment.

This almost felt like a date – aside from the fact that Noah sat on the other side of the table colouring, blissfully unaware as to what was going on, and her roommates were sat beside her, animatedly arguing over something, though she couldn't quite hear what.

She was quite happy to have some time to get to know Jeff though, without it feeling entirely inappropriate. Perhaps this was the best. It was platonic, they could do platonic.

“I feel you. It’s nice to talk to someone who doesn’t pick their nose and wipe it on your t-shirt.” 

“Gross!” Annie laughed. 

They were briefly interrupted by waiter who came and took the group’s order.

“So Jeff. What do you do for a living?” 

“I have my own law firm, always been a dream of mine. But let’s not talk about that…” he played the part of being humble well, and turned the questioning to Annie. “What are your plans for the rest of the weekend? You know, once we’re out of your hair. Sorry about that again.”

“Oh. Well, I spend my Sunday’s prepping for the week ahead mostly. So today’s my day to do whatever, and here I am, with you.”

“That’s depressing,” Jeff commented. 

“I like spending time with Abed and Troy. And it’s always nice to meet new people. Make new friends.” 

“I’m not exactly new, Annie.”

“Well, let’s not get into technicalities here. I didn’t even know you were a lawyer. So at least I've learned something new about you today.”

-

Once their meals had been served, and each had received their $5 shakes (they were seriously bigger than Annie’s head), silence fell over the table while they ate. 

They all laughed when Abed made a joke about how massive the burgers were. They all seemed to be having a good time. 

That was until Annie spotted a familiar face staring in through the diner window – and from where she was sat, it definitely wasn’t a happy face. 

Jeff noticed Annie’s face drop and turned around to see what she was looking at.

There she stood – Claire. Glaring at them through the window. 

Oh shit.

The guilt started to rise in Annie's throat. She felt a lump right at the back that she couldn't quite get rid of. The pair watched as the woman walked away from the window in a hurry, and looked at each other nervously. 

There was nothing to be nervous about. It was just two friends - acquaintances even - enjoying a good meal and relatively good company. Nothing more, right? 


	5. Forbidden Fruit

The atmosphere felt cold as they all ate in silence, both Jeff and Annie lost in their own thoughts and paranoia. 

“I should really get going. Noah probably could do with a nap or something..." He trailed off. They had barely spoken since the window incident, and there was no ignoring that the day had taken an awkward turn. They hadn't even looked at each other in minutes, most of them just stared down at their plates, hoping someone would break the tension. No one did. 

He looked at Annie and tried to ignore the pang of guilt that hit him. Her eyes gleamed up at him, and she offered him a weak smile. He had to look away.

“Thank you again for this,” he offered the three opposite him, before rushing out of the booth. “I’ll get the bill.”

And with that, they left. 

-

Jeff wasn’t prepared for the argument he knew was coming when he’d dropped off Noah back at Claire’s. 

While he knew he hadn’t done anything wrong, he also knew how it looked, him on a date with his son’s teacher, with his son sitting there oblivious – he wasn’t sure if Claire had even noticed the two young men sat on the other side of the table, probably not. 

He felt guilty, as if he had been caught out. 

“Hi,” he smiled weakly, bracing himself for the worst. 

“Hi.” Claire cooed at Noah, completely ignoring Jeff. “Go inside, honey. Mummy’s baked cookies and there’s one for you in front of the TV.”

Noah hugged his daddy one last time, and then ran inside the house excitedly, disappearing around the corner.

Here it comes….

“So, Jeff. Care to tell me why you were on a date with Noah’s teacher? Care to tell me why you can’t seem to stick to those floozies on your phone?”

“It wasn’t a date.”

“It sure looked like it.” 

He tried to speak, to explain himself, but Claire continued: “It’s completely inappropriate, Jeff. That’s your son’s teacher. Do you not have any sense of how weird that is? And how odd that must seem to Noah?”

"You can be with any girl, ANYONE. I don't care. Just not her. I'm not having Noah getting all caught up in your manwhorish ways."

She was hysterical at this point, though she had managed to refrain from using obscene language – mostly because Noah could’ve reappeared at any point, and they both didn’t want their son to know about their spats.

“Look, if it makes you feel better, I won’t spend time with her. Inside or outside of school hours.”

Claire gave him a sceptical look.

“But just so you know, it wasn’t a date. Her roommates were there, they invited us to lunch when we ran into them. That’s it. I wouldn’t do anything stupid. And I wouldn't take Noah on dates with me, I'm not stupid you know.”

Jeff couldn’t believe he had said it – that he promised to deplete all his Annie time, but if it made his life easier with Claire, and truly meant he wouldn’t get caught with his trousers down (not literally), then he had to do it, didn’t he?

“Fine. Just don’t do it again. I don’t want him getting mixed up and calling all your little girlfriends his new step-mommy. You shouldn’t entangle your son in your weird dating life, Jeff. Or jeopardise his education by dating his teacher. You seriously need to grow up.” 

She slammed the door in his face. 

-

As he approached his apartment building, Jeff felt like his whole body was on fire. It pained him slightly, to have to ignore someone he really didn’t want to. To rid himself of the attention. To cut her off when he was only just getting to know her. 

She was already inside of him, running through his bloodstream. He felt like a bit of an addict, high on the attention, high on the thrill of it all. And now he had to quit it cold turkey.

He was so lost in thought, he didn’t notice Britta sneak up behind him. 

“How’s Annie?” she cooed in his ear. 

“Do you have nothing more to do with your day than annoy me Britta?”

“You still don’t want to talk about it?” she said, studying his face. Looking for a hint of emotion. He wouldn't give her anything.

There she went again, trying to therapise him. He couldn’t tell if she was just extremely nosy, or if she thought they were a lot closer than they actually were. And he wasn’t sure what he had done to give her the impression that he was in any way interested in having a deep conversation about his feelings at all.

“I don’t want to talk to you about anything right now.”

“Touchy,” was all he heard her say as he slammed his door, cutting off the conversation. 

He grabbed the half-empty bottle of scotch on his kitchen counter and swigged right from the top. There was no need to get a glass, he’d need this all night, he thought. 

-

Jeff threw himself into his work the following week, determined to keep himself distracted. He picked up cases big and small, filling his days with things to do which would keep his mind of a certain brunette – though the fact that she was now “forbidden fruit” seemed to only make her more attractive to him. 

'She’s too young, she's Noah’s teacher' had become a bit of a mantra for him, whenever his mind started to wander to the doe-eyed woman that had taken over his brain. 

He managed to get out of school run duty for a few days, enough to clear his head a bit. He needed some time to cool off, and he realised Claire was all too happy to handle things – probably because she didn’t trust Jeff to hold up his end of the bargain when it came to Miss Edison.

But he wasn’t a child and he did have to face her eventually, so he decided to collect Noah after a few days of waiting for his feelings to die down – they didn’t. But he had become numb enough to them and it was easier to push them aside, and Jeff could settle for that.

“Hi.” He appeared at the doorway, and Noah ran up to him excitedly.

“Daddy! Daddy! Miss Edison taught us a new song today!”

“Oh really?” Jeff smiled at his son, giving him a quick cuddle, before Noah ran back to Annie.

“It’s just a spelling song,” she was flustered by his presence, he knew. He wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing.

“Don’t make Miss Edison sing it, Noah. You can show me it in the car if you like,” Jeff offered. The guilt was already rushing to him, he had to look away from her face as he couldn’t bare the sad look in her eyes. He made a point not to make conversation with her - he couldn't get sucked in.

“Fiiiiiiiiiiine.”

“I hope this one wasn’t causing too much trouble for you today, Miss Edison,” Jeff tried to smile, though he wasn’t sure it was convincing. Damn, he was losing his touch. Claire had gotten inside his head, and he felt bad saying anything at all. But he wanted to - he wanted nothing more than to sit here and talk to her now. But he couldn't.

“Nonsense. See you tomorrow, Noah.”

Jeff turned to leave, and tried to ignore the soft whisper that followed his departure. 

“Bye, Jeff.”

-

Days seemed to drag on, like there was nothing to look forward to. 

Jeff attempted to keep his hands and mind busy at all times, with work projects, with his phone, with whoever replied to his midnight texts. 

Whenever Noah was around, he found himself pushing them into all sorts of activities. They went bowling, to the cinema and for a game of mini-golf all in one day. The whole time, Jeff kept hoping he’d run into her. That she’d pop up in a ridiculously short sundress, her lips curved into that dreamy little smile, the one that made him feel a bit woozy. 

God, he hated himself.

She never showed up, of course. Except in his every other thought. 

He gave into it in the end, too tired to fight off the thoughts for much longer. 

Driving back to Claire’s, with Noah sound asleep in the back seat, was pretty lonely, so he was glad he had some thoughts of Annie to keep him company anyway. The warm way she laughed, the way she smiled at everyone as if they were all her friends, that determined look she always had in her eyes. 

He parked up, quietly getting out the car as to not wake Noah. Just as he was about to knock on the front door, he overheard Claire, her voice echoing out the bedroom window above him.

“You should see this teacher. She looks about 19, she still carries a backpack for god sake! And of course Jeff wants to get in her pants, he always wants what he can’t have and he doesn’t care who he hurts to get it. He’ll chase anything in a skirt.”

His clenched his fists at her words but carried on listening silently. He wanted to know how she really felt about Annie. 

“Did I tell you I caught them on a date? Imagine that! Now she’s sucking up to me, being incessantly nice so I don’t make a formal complaint or something. As if I don’t realise that she’s trying to hook up with my ex-husband right in front of my face. She seriously needs some self-respect, that girl. Imagine going after somebody else’s leftovers like this… She’s nothing more than a little wh---”

Jeff rang the doorbell, interrupting Claire’s train of thought. He was tired of her insults. He didn’t want to hear it anymore. Then he realised that he seriously needed to calm down before Claire came to the door otherwise, he’d be outted for his eavesdropping.

“Hold on, I’ll call you back.” 

The front door opened a few moments later, and Claire stood there, flushed red. She flicked her blonde hair forward to cover her cheeks. 

“Where’s Noah?” 

“Asleep in the car. Let me get him.”

“Jeff – he’s never going to sleep tonight. Thanks a lot.” She rolled her eyes. 

Claire always had that power to make Jeff feel about 3 feet tall and undermine his role as Noah’s dad. It was the fuel behind all their arguments, before and after the split. 

He left her house pretty quickly and decided to head for the gym to blow off some steam. His hand held tight onto the wheel, and he tried to ignore how white his knuckles. He clenched his jaw. 

Fuck sake.


	6. Homewrecker

“So, Jeff seemed nice,” Troy tried to break the tension. They had been sat in silence ever since the taller, older man had left with his kid, and Troy did not handle pressured situations well. At all. Not being dramatic, or anything, but he was moments away from breaking down, screaming and running around the restaurant. 

Annie just nodded back, silently sat there, staring out the window.

She hated this. Not knowing what Jeff was thinking – unsure if she had just ruined everything she had been working so hard towards. 

Sure, she knew she wasn’t about to get fired or anything, she hadn’t done anything that bad, but still. She felt guilty – it wasn’t exactly a move that a Teacher of The Year would do.

“So how long have you liked him, Annie?” Abed looked over at her, waiting for an answer.

“I—I don’t like him Abed. He’s just a nice guy from school. A dad to one of my favourite students,” she sped through her words, knowing that she didn’t believe them. And the boys probably didn’t believe them either.

“Well, I think it’s cool if you want to hang out with him,” Troy offered. “It was pretty nice that he paid for dinner as well, he clearly likes you in some way to do that for us. Maybe you should go for it.”

“No. No. No.” Annie shook her head. She couldn’t. It was all getting too complicated. What with her job, Noah, Claire – anything with Jeff came with a price and too much baggage. And she wasn’t in the place to put everything she had at jeopardy or be known as the teacher that goes after her students dads – that’s the kind of reputation that sticks around. She shuddered at the thought.

The longer she sat there, staring at the empty space in front of her where Jeff once sat, the sadder she felt. She hated how much she wanted what she couldn’t have. She felt like a child, having something dangled in front of her, getting the slightest taste of what it could be like (and wanting it so bad), and having it ripped away, knowing it would never be. 

She reminded herself that she hadn’t necessarily done anything wrong – it was by no means an actual date. She hadn't kissed him, or even touched him. She barely knew anything about the guy – other than the fact he’s some hot-shot lawyer who wore tight suits, designer jeans and fancy shoes. That he always had his phone on vibrate – and it vibrated a lot, from what she could tell. That he loves Noah more than anything in the world. That he knows the right ways to get a reaction out of Annie, despite their conversations never lasting more than 2 minutes without some sort of interruption. Yet she found herself constantly drawn to him. He was magnetic, and she hated it. 

“Let’s go home,” Abed said. They coaxed Annie out of the booth and into the car. They tried to do what they could to cheer her up. Troy found one of her CDs and put it on, he even tried to sing along even though he didn't know many Ariana Grande lyrics. Annie remained silent in the back, staring out of the window. 

She was too distracted to sing along.

When they got back to their apartment, they tried again. 

“What movie should we watch?” Troy asked.

Instinctively, Abed stepped towards the cabinet and reached for one of his cult classics. He grabbed Shawshank Redemption, but then his eyes caught sight of his roommate, sat still, staring into nothingness. Annie needed this more than him, Abed thought. He looked down at the bottom row, where she kept most of her favourite films, and grabbed a DVD. 

“What about this?” He showed off the case for The Princess Bride. 

Annie stayed silent. The boys set everything up silently anyway, hoping that she’d still enjoy it. They weren't really sure what else they could offer. Neither of them were very good at this whole "girl talk" shebang. Troy grabbed snacks, some chocolate for Annie as that’s what girls needed when they were sad, right? And Abed checked the sound system before they grabbed a blanket and got comfortable on the sofa.

Midway through the film, Annie still hadn’t said a thing. Which was very out of character for Annie, Abed thought, considering she usually liked to comment, or at least make a few “awwws” every time she watched a romantic film with them. 

“Annie. Talk to us.” He pleaded.

“I feel so horrible,” Annie finally cried, tears falling from her bright blue eyes. She sobbed into her hands, and Troy moved over to hug her, wrapping one arm around her back. 

“Annie, it’s ok. There’s nothing to feel bad about.”

“I’m a homewrecker.” 

“They’re divorced,” Abed commented, matter of fact-ly. “It would be impossible for you to wreck that home.”

“You are allowed to have feelings, Annie. You’re not a bad person. You didn’t do anything wrong,” Troy offered.

Though no matter what they could’ve said, nothing would have made her feel better. She was completely wrapped up in her own guilt. 

“I still shouldn’t get involved. I’m so stupid. I don’t need this, I don’t want to get mixed up in all this drama.” And it was true. She didn’t. Her last relationship had been a train wreck of drama, emotions... It left her broken hearted when Vaughn left Greendale, and subsequently left her and never spoke to her again.

“I just wanted to do something that I’m good at, something I love, and do it well. And now I feel like some silly girl with a crush who’s ruining the one thing she’s worked hardest for.” She said through sobs, choking on some words as she tried to speak. She let the tears fall down her cheeks, rolling onto her chin, dripping down onto her lap. 

“I think I need to be alone. Thanks anyway.” She got up, grabbed the box of tissues from the coffee table, and disappeared into her bedroom. 

Troy and Abed sat in silence for a moment, unsure what to do.

“I feel bad for meddling,” Troy sunk back into sofa as he spoke. “I didn’t mean to upset Annie.”

“I have a feeling about those two. It’s not going to be like that last time… This is gonna happen, with or without our meddling. I just wanted to speed up the process,” Abed said. 

“If you’re sure…” Troy frowned. “I don’t want her crying for 2 weeks like when Vaughn broke up with her. That was rough for me."

-

Annie didn’t bring it up again. She assured her roommates she was absolutely fine whenever she saw them and refused to discuss the Jeff situation entirely.

She had to move on now. It was clear. This silly like flirty situation they had developed had to stop – for her sanity anyway. She wasn't sure how Jeff felt about it all, but she had to put herself first.

She couldn’t bare to stand there, smiling up at him, waiting for him to comment on something and somehow turn it into an innuendo. Or find a way to tease and taunt her jokingly. It wasn’t right. It was all tainted now, all those silly little moments between them were poisoned. 

Plus, she was in no position to make enemies with anyone at the school. This was her first year as a fully qualified teacher, and while she had acquainted herself with some of the mothers and teachers she encountered daily, who knows what Claire could do to change that. All it would take was one nasty, swirling rumour and she’d be ridiculed. This felt like high school all over again. 

It wasn’t until the following Monday, when Claire arrived with Noah in tow, that she finally thought about that day again. She had managed to push it out of her mind slightly the night before, enough to get some rest anyway.

“Hi Noah,” she waved at the boy as he walked in, and watched as he ran off to one of his friends in the class. “Hi Claire.”

“Annie.” Claire stared into Annie’s soul. She was clearly still angry about the situation. No amount of niceties and smiles could repair this situation.

“I just wanted to say to you that you better watch out. You might get a reputation around here for going after people’s husbands.”

“I---” Annie was shocked. She didn’t have any words, she couldn’t respond. There was nothing she could say to make the situation better, nothing to do that could ease this tension. Claire would probably always hate her for that one innocent day, and there was nothing Annie could do about it. “I apologise” she offered.

“Have a good day, Noah.” Was all Claire offered before leaving.

-

Annie waited for Jeff to come to collect Noah, but it was like he had just dropped off of the face of the earth. He never showed. It was always Claire, offering her a pointed look as she left.

Days passed and there was still no sign of him. He didn’t drop Noah off in the mornings, nor was he there by 3pm, ready to pick him up. 

He was definitely avoiding her. Great, now he hates me she thought. 

She wanted to ask after him, you know, to check he was ok. It had nearly been a week since she last saw him, and that wasn’t normal for him. He usually came by at least once or twice a week, and now it was like he just didn’t exist. 

There was no one that she could ask though. Annie dare not ask Claire, not if she wanted to live a peaceful life here in Greendale, at least for the rest of the school year.

No. If Annie so much as mentioned the man to his former wife, she knew she’d be berated, shamed and she’d probably have every mother from her class coming in to complain, or at least talking about her behind her back. 

She couldn’t ask Noah either. It seemed wrong, plus she didn’t want the 6 year old to start suspecting things, that was the last thing she needed. No more drama, she vowed. She guessed that had to mean no more Jeff too.

-

“Annie!” One of her co-workers appeared at the doorway. It was Katie and Jenna, the two friends that Annie had managed to make so far this school term. They were young like her, relatively new to the school, and both made an effort to try and show her the ropes. 

“Please tell us you’re coming out tomorrow! We’re going to Whispers – that new bar that just opened in town. Come!” 

“Oh, I don’t know… I’m not sure I’ll be much fun.”

“COME!” Jenna cheered. “It’ll be great to see you outside of work. I feel like we all need this.” 

They had a point. Annie could definitely use a distraction, or a drink. She needed to let her hair down once in a while, something she couldn’t quite do with Troy or Abed. 

“Ok. I’ll go with you guys. This could be fun.” For the first time in days, Annie cracked a real smile.


	7. Scotch & Sex

Jeff knew he shouldn’t be running away from all his problems, but it was so much easier than actually dealing with them, so he did just that. 

So yeah, maybe he had opted to stay at work extra late, tell Claire he had a big case coming up he had to work extra hours on, and avoid Greendale Elementary at all costs. Did that make him a bad person? Probably. Did it mean that he didn’t have to deal with that stupid look Annie would give him when she saw him when she saw him? And did ignoring her mean the dumb guilt he felt would momentarily cease? Absolutely. 

You win some you lose some.

Maybe some time would fix things.

He did owe Claire for covering for him with Noah duties, and he felt like he owed Annie too for having to deal with Claire on her own. God knows what his ex-wife would have said to her. He couldn’t imagine the two were playing nice, that’s for sure.

Jeff had opted for the distraction route of forgetting this whole Annie-Jeff-Claire love triangle he had gotten himself wrapped up in. It was the safest, easiest, best option - and the only one he needed when it came to dumb things like feelings.

He did actually throw himself into work and stay late to get stuff done, but there were also two other key stages of his forget-about-Annie strategy: 1) scotch, and lots of it. 2) random hookups.

It started with Hayley - some redhead he met in the bar just by work on Monday. They hardly even spoke to each other. He didn’t want or need to know anything about her, other than he could escape the thoughts rattling inside his head by getting her in the backseat of his car. 

Next was Molly. Poor sweet Molly. Asked him about brunch, tried to make future plans. She didn’t know the rules. It felt mean to let her down, like kicking a puppy, but to Jeff it was a harsh reality of the games he was playing. He wanted one thing, and one thing only. Distractions. Sex. Ok, maybe two things.

He started plucking from his roster, picking a new girl every night. The more time he spent alone, the more he felt his mind wander. His stomach started twisting in knots. His hand reached for a drink, drawn to a bottle of scotch like a magnet, or for his phone, for some easy attention.

His mind did still go back to thoughts of that petite brunette. His body yearned to be near her, to touch her. He thought if he filled his mind with enough to divert those thoughts, filled his body with enough alcohol and spent his time with whoever was ready and willing, maybe just maybe she’d disappear. But she never did. There was her stupid smile, her bright blue eyes, her silky brown hair… 

Get out of my head, Jeff wanted to shout. But it got pretty lonely when he was finally alone at night, and he could always count on dream Annie to keep him company… 

-

He FaceTimed Noah a lot that week too, during his very delayed lunch breaks. He felt bad that skipping out on seeing Annie meant cutting down the time he spent with his son. Was he being selfish? For sure. He felt like the shittiest dad for doing it too, but he tried to mask that as well, tried not to think about it too much.

“Hey buddy.”

“Hi Daddy. Miss you.”

“I miss you too. What ya been doing?”

“Pictures!” Noah smiled and held up his recent artworks. “Miss Edison said I could be a artist!” 

“Is that what you want to do?”

“I dunno,” Noah said, as he grabbed a new toy. It was funny how easily kids lost track of what they were doing or got bored and moved onto the next thing. 

“So, you’re being good for Mommy?”

“Yeah,” he continued to play with his paper airplane, not really paying attention to Jeff. 

“Ok bud. And I’ll call you later for your bedtime story?”

“Ok daddy. Bye bye.” 

And that was pretty much his daily routine. Work, speak to Noah, head home, dinner, drinks, drunk texting, sex, more scotch, falling asleep on the sofa watching some random, shitty tv show. Dream of Annie. Wake up, and do the whole thing all over again.

-

By the time he finished on Friday, Jeff knew he needed to blow off some steam. While he wouldn’t usually indulge his co-workers in the pleasures of his company, he did desperately need a drink, so he decided to accompany them to the local bar.

It was no L street, but it would do. 

He pretended to mingle. Sure, Jeff could talk. He could convince anyone to do anything, he could persuade the pants off of strangers with one of his famous speeches, but only when he wanted to. And while there were worst ways to spend his Friday night, he would much rather be spending time with someone else.

He shook his head, removing that thought.

Stood at the bar, he admired the bottles organized behind the bartender, glistening, calling his name. His favorite scotch was sat there calling his name. He could definitely park up on one of these bar stools and sit alone for the rest of the night, thoughts of a certain someone as his only form of company. 

Once he ordered, Jeff headed back to the table and sat with his team. It felt weirdly personal being here with them, seeing all the lawyers and paralegals with their hair down, slightly tipsy as they chatted about their lives. It was weird what he had missed learning about people because he never gave them a second thought.

Not that he cared. It was just weird. Shit, why was he getting all sentimental tonight?

More scotch, he told himself as he took another, bigger sip.

And his night went on that way, listening to conversation, excusing himself to head to the bar, and heading back with his new drink, slowly drowning away those pesky thoughts and feelings.

Putting his glass down, he toyed with it in his hand, moving it slightly across the table absent mindedly. He nodded along to their chats, adding in the occaisonal comment when needed, but he wasn't overly invested in their company. Then, he looked up, and that’s when he spotted something. Or someone.

He blinked. Surely not. 

There she was stood, Annie Edison in all her glory. Despite the shoddy lighting in the bar, she was glowing. Jeff noted he wasn’t the only one looking, admiring the view. He felt a pang in his heart and shifted in his seat. He had to look away, otherwise he’d definitely be caught staring. But she seemed completely oblivious to the attention. He continued, drinking in the sight of her. The tight dress that accentuated her perfect body. God, she was gorgeous.

His instinct was to get up and go to her. But he had to play it cool. And he had that whole promise with Claire, not to talk to her and all… But he supposed she’d never find out about this… And what she didn’t know, couldn’t possibly hurt her.


	8. A Push in the Right Direction

Annie felt the anxiety bubbling in her stomach. She was always nervous before a night out, she often found herself going through situations in her head that were unlikely to happen. But she needed to be prepared, you know, just in case they ever did. 

Plus, Katie and Jenna had decided that they should pre-drink before heading to Whispers, so Annie was 2 drinks down and already a little tipsy. It did make her feel more confident in the black bandage dress that Katie had forced her to wear too. She said Annie’s usual skirt and shirt combo was not alluring enough and was so excited to get a hold of Annie and dress her, that to Annie it felt like this was more of a conspiracy than a coincidence. 

The trio set out for the new bar. They had organised to meet some other co-workers there, but had given themselves time to get dressed up and let their hair down a little beforehand, just for good measure. Annie didn't mind at all, in fact she felt more prepared this way. She had time to compose herself slightly.

She could feel her stomach doing summersaults as they walked up to the venue, and Annie spotted a large queue forming outside. 

“Guys,” she pointed to the line stretching down the street. The three girls stopped in their tracks and burst into a fit of laughter.

“I guess Whispers isn’t going to happen tonight,” Jenna said. “Where to next?”

They ended up hitting a few different bars before they finally settled in one, right at the end of the street. In every place, Katie and Jenna kept buying Annie shots, and she kept pretending to drink them and then offer them to strangers. The two girls were now significantly more drunk than Annie, which she didn’t mind, as she liked to feel like she was quite aware of her surroundings, even when she had been drinking, and they all burst into the final venue now with a mission to have the best night ever. 

The bar was dark, and actually quite busy. A line had formed to order drinks, and the girls stood behind a group of men who already seemed to be drunk out of their minds, they were quite funny to watch, Annie mused.

She stood a little self-consciously, toying with the ends of her hair as she waited to order, not used to her new look, and now she had started to sober up, it felt a bit strange. Katie and Jenna had struck up conversation with the men in front, but Annie was never really that great at the whole flirting thing, not that she was massively interested in any of them anyway, so she was lost in thought.

She did try to make some conversation, but it seemed the drunk, giggly allure of Katie and Jenna was much more interesting that Annie’s work-related topic of conversation, so instead she settled for standing silently and looking around. 

It wasn’t actually that bad of a venue. Sure, the lighting was a bit dim, and the floor felt a bit sticky under her shoes, but it was nicely filled, and she couldn’t complain where she was when she finally had an excuse to let her hair down, and forget about certain things - certain people.

She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror behind the bar and admired herself. She never looked like this. She didn’t even own any clothes like this. Her wardrobe did rely on a similar pattern: skirts, shirts, cardigans, some dresses, but mostly it was smart-casual. That was what she felt most comfortable in. But she think she looked nice in this more dramatic, dare she say sexy look. It was new to her. She didn’t realise she could pull it off like this, she had never thought to try it.

“That guy keeps looking at you, Annie,” Katie pointed out. 

Annie turned around, fully expecting it to be a stranger or a creep when she gasped. “Oh my god,” she blushed. It was Jeff. She stood in silence for a moment, her heart racing as she tried to compose her thoughts. She wasn’t sure whether to bring it up with them, or whether they’d judge her. 

“He’s cute. Defo go for him,” Katie said proudly.

“He looks familiar…” Jenna thought. “Oh my god. You know him! Don’t you?” she could tell just by the look on Annie's face.

“Shhhhhhhh,” Annie checked to see if he had looked over, if he had noticed that she noticed him. He seemed pretty engaged in a conversation at this table. She was safe. Phew. “Don’t say anything to anyone. But yes, I teach his kid. And yes, he is so dreamy.”

“Oh my god,” the girls squealed in unison. “Bathroom. Now.”

The girls made a quick escape, Annie checking once more whether Jeff was watching, but it seemed she always just managed to escape his eye whenever she looked over. As to whether he had actually noticed her was another story, but she took Katie’s word for it. 

“So, what’s happening there then?” Katie stepped closer to Annie as they gathered by the mirrors in the dingy bar bathroom.

“Nothing,” Annie insisted. Which was technically true. They’d never kissed, never said they felt anything for each other. It was just the occasional flirt. That weird, date/not-date scenario that she tried not to think about. “He is very flirtatious. Or he was. But then I saw him out in public and we ran into his ex and… I think whatever it could’ve been will no longer happen.” she gushed, a hint of sadness in her voice that she tried to hide. She had never spoken about this out loud before, it felt so liberating, even if she knew her chances of anything with Jeff would be slim.

“If you don’t go talk to him, you’re going to regret it.”

“He so wants to talk to you,” Jenna agreed. “Listen Annie, stop worrying about everything so damn much. We’re only in our 20s, and even if you do regret talking to him, kissing him, hell, even going home with him, it’s fine. These are the days to make mistakes.”

“And plus who cares what that other woman thinks. This is your life. And if you don’t go for it, fuck it, I will.” Katie encouraged. 

“I don’t even know how to talk to him,” Annie admitted. “I feel like I’m not good enough whenever I’m with him. You know? I don’t want to say the wrong thing.” 

“Just follow us. I don’t think anything bad will happen,” Jenna said, grabbing her friend’s hand and leading them out of the bathroom.

Maybe it was the drinks giving her blind courage, or maybe it was the hyping and encouragement from her friends that made Annie let go of her past set-backs, but instead of worrying, she found herself excited to find Jeff.

They all walked back to the bar to get another drink. That’s when Jenna noticed Jeff was stood near them at the bar. She nudged Katie, showing her where he was without telling Annie, and the two moved subtly to push Annie in his direction.

Katie stepped forward, and with a gentle nudge, Annie fell backwards and into Jeff’s arm. 

“Hey,” he breathed.

“Hey yourself,” Annie replied, coolly. Her heart thumped in her chest as her eyes drank the view of the tall, gorgeous man in front of her. She had forgotten all about his random disappearance this week, all about the things that were holding her back before. All that mattered is that he was here, stood in front of her, wearing a tailored shirt that showed off his impeccable body. God, she had to stop staring.

“I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Me neither.” She refused to make more effort with their conversation, as a principle. Usually she’d be the one asking questions, but she felt she needed to make him work for it a little. He had, after all, avoided her for the last few days.

Katie and Jenna were encouraging her from the side-lines, offering her little thumbs ups and smiles whenever they made eye contact.

“You look….” He trailed off. She could feel his eyes on her skin, tracing her body, her face. He licked his lips and a shiver trailed down her spine. She wanted him right here, right now, especially with the way he was looking back at her. “Nice dress.”

“Thanks. It’s not mine,” she announced. 

“Ok.” he laughed. She felt a bit embarrassed, but she forgot about that the more she thought about his compliment, the way his eyes lingered on her. He hadn't even looked away yet.

They fell into silence, though it felt comfortable. They were both still too busy staring at one another. In a weird way, she’d missed seeing him. Being able to find out little facts and pieces about his life with whatever he randomly mentioned in those brief, sweet meetings. Those little flirty comments, the way he seemed to go the extra mile to make her smile or blush each day. 

“It’s been a while,” Jeff commented with a breath. She was surprised he had even acknowledged it, considering he had left the situation hanging between them for days. He was the one that had disappeared without a trace, not her. That was not her fault.

“Yeah. Where you been?”

“Busy. Work. You know.” He shrugged. 

She wanted more out of him and hated the fact he wouldn’t give it to her. “I see. Well, I’ll let you go back to your friends if you want,” she said, turning to leave

“No.” He paused and held onto her arm. Fire spread across her skin, starting from where his fingertips were placed and travelling up her arm. She licked her lips. “Don’t go. Let me get you a drink.”

He point-blank refused to order her a pina colada – he believed it wasn’t a “real drink” – so Annie suggested that he surprised her while she went to find them a seat. He had agreed to it, so she guessed he did actually want to talk to her and spend time with her, which was a good sign, right?

When he found her again, he was holding two glasses of scotch, and two clear shots. She gulped. Annie thought she had gotten out of all that craziness earlier. 

“For you, M’lady,” he placed two glasses down in front of her and held onto the others as he sat down opposite her. “Cheers.” 

“Cheers,” she followed suit and knocked the shot back. She tried to play it off, but she couldn’t help but wince at the strong aftertaste. Sambuca was the worst.

-

They sat together for what seemed like the whole night, laughing, making stupid jokes, talking about nothing, yet it felt like everything. He was trying with her, and his eyes gleamed when he looked at her. She couldn’t help but feel the butterflies in her stomach whenever their eyes met across the table. She was glad she could hear him over the music, too.

“Look, I don’t wanna ruin your night or anything, but I am sorry. For not saying anything to you know, about that thing…” Jeff finally said after a few more rounds. 

“S’fine,” Annie managed to say, the alcohol had hit her hard, and she was definitely more than a little tipsy. 

“No. It’s not fine. I was a dick, and I’m sorry. I don’t want to upset you.”

“Hey, I’m fine,” she offered a smile, and leaned towards him on the table. She looked up at him with bright, warm eyes, but as she leaned a little closer, she lost her balance, her legs shifted on the stool, and she found herself tipping over. 

“I got you,” Jeff managed to react fast enough to catch her slightly. His arms wrapped against her, and he looked her right in the eye as he pulled her closer. 

And then he kissed her. 

Their lips finally met, softly at first, almost tentatively. And then when he pushed his body against hers, she melted into his touch and found herself parting her lips, and Jeff took the opportunity to deepen the kiss. His hand tangled itself into her long, soft hair, and the other gently landed at her waist, holding her in position. She found herself wrapped up in him, comfortable in the warmth of his body, feeling the tightness of his abs pressed against her chest too.

“Wow,” she breathed when they finally stepped apart.

She wished she could blame it on the alcohol, but she couldn’t. All she could think about is how much she wanted to do that again.

So she did.

Lunging forward, she grabbed his neck and pulled his face towards hers, pressing her lips firmly on his. Their tongues met, and they seemed to melt into each other right there in the middle of the bar, completely oblivious to their surroundings. Everything just felt so right, electricity charged through them, and she had to admit, it was one of the best kisses she had ever had. She didn’t want it to end.

She hoped it never had to.


	9. The Dress

Her lips were intoxicating. Jeff couldn’t tell if it was just how much he wanted her or the taste of the alcohol she was drinking, or maybe a mix of both, but whatever it was, he loved it. It was driving him crazy. 

Even when they pulled away, to catch their breath, to look at each other, their lips would soon be back together again. Some kisses were slow, tender, and others were hungry, fuelled by the alcohol, their desperate want for each other, emotions that had denied themselves for far too long. Those kisses were rough and urgent. 

“Do you want to get out of here?” Jeff asked between kisses, his lips pecking at her neck as he waited for an answer. God, even her skin tasted sweet, he thought. He couldn’t get enough of her. 

He don’t know how it led up to this. That a simple chat – he had only come over to apologise to her for running out on that weird lunch – had wound him up here. His lips on her skin, his heart racing deep inside his chest. 

“I—” Annie leant into his touch, enjoying all the attention Jeff was giving her. “I should find my friends. You know.” 

His kisses stopped, and Jeff looked up to look her in the eyes. Did she want him to stop? She didn't want him the same way he wanted her? Shit.

“So I can tell them I’m leaving,” she added with a reassuring tone, and her eyes trailed around the room searching for some familiar faces. He let out a sigh of relief. He didn't want to say anything to scare her off.

A grin spread across his face, and even though he knew he shouldn’t be doing this right now, or at all really, he couldn’t help but feel the excitement that buzzed through his body. She seemed to make all those bad thoughts disappear – all he could think about was her. Her body, her smile, her hair, the way she smelled – the way her lips tasted. Nothing else mattered.

He didn’t realise that he had even done it, but their hands were intertwined, and he found himself lazily sketching on her skin with his thumb as she looked around. It felt oddly peaceful, so he didn't stop.

“I think they might have left,” she said, and turned over to him with a mysterious look in her eyes. He had never seen her look quite like that, almost as if she had lost that twinkle of innocence. “Lead the way, Mr. Winger.”

He wanted to grab her face and kiss her once more, but he had to show that he had the slightest bit of self control until he got her home, even if he was just proving to himself that he could, so he kept a hold of her hand and led her to the door and out into the cool, night air. 

“I’ll get a cab,” Jeff said as he took a step towards the curb and looked around. 

He tried to ignore the bubbling inside his stomach, the way he felt like a kid on Christmas Eve, excitedly waiting for what’s to come. He couldn’t believe that he was here, that Annie was holding his hand, staring at him. She looked so good, he thought. While he had come to enjoy the sight of her knitted cardigans and school-girl skirts, he didn’t mind this new figure-hugging look she was sporting. He definitely wasn’t going to complain about that dress. She looked damn right beautiful stood there in the moonlight, looking up at him expectantly. He forgot how short she was. Even in heels, Jeff still had quite a few inches on her. It was adorable.

-

As they made their way back to his, Jeff pushed aside thos thoughts running through his head. He hoped she didn’t notice that he was silent, anxiety racking his brain. He was weirdly nervous about this – especially considering he did this a lot, but Jeff couldn’t deny that things felt different now - here with her. He wanted to say it was stupid, that he was stupid for even thinking like this, but it was undeniable now because she was different. And he liked that about her.

He still couldn’t quite believe this was happening. All those moments he spent daydreaming about her, and now she was sitting by his side, her hand still in his. He smiled to himself absent-mindedly.

“What?” she questioned, noticing his grin. “What are you smiling about?”

“Nothing. Just how easy this all was,” he lifted up their held-hands and let out a laugh. “Got you right under my spell.”

She nudged him with a huff and yanked her hand out of his. “Don’t let it get to your head,” she said. “I can just as easily go home.”

“You wouldn’t do that…” Jeff hoped.

“No. No I wouldn’t,” she smiled, and her hand wormed its way back to his. “You definitely live in the nicer part of Greendale,” she noted, watching streets pass by out the window. They had passed her neighbourhood a while ago, that's how she knew. 

“Is there even a nice part of Greendale?” Jeff asked with a smirk.

“Well, let’s just say I can guarantee your place will be nicer than mine.”

“Ah yes. And I don’t have roommates... 2 points to Jeffrey Winger,” he pretended to cheer, and enjoyed the way she laughed at his dumb jokes. 

“So is this all part of your routine?” Annie asked. 

“Routine? What do you mean?”

“How you get the girls to come home with you,” she commented, as if it were obvious. She assumed he must have done this often, considering how well acquainted he was with the situation, how easy this all came to him. Annie didn’t really have any idea what she was doing, she just went along for the ride. 

He shook his head and laughed. Routine? Sure, Jeff had a few tricks up his sleeve, but never a routine. He wasn’t one of those sad, middle aged men that hung around bars, desperately trying to pick up women, hoping that one of the sad-sap singles would cling on to his every word. 

“I don’t have a routine, Annie. It’s called charm. And irresistible good looks,” he flexed his arm muscle at her, and wiggled his brows. “You know what I’m talking about.”

“Meh,” she shrugged, and burst into a fit of laughter. He pouted back at her, shocked at her statement. Jeff Winger? Meh. Blasphemous.

“It’s a whole lot more than meh, trust me.”

“Well, I look forward to you showing me,” Annie stared him right in the eye.

He nearly gulped. He thought he’d never see a side to her that was so… Not innocent. 

And so he pulled her across the backseat and kissed her, his mouth. The kiss started slow, lazy from the alcohol that flooded his system, before his excitement and anticipation kicked in, and he pulled her closer. Her hands moved along his neck, sending shivers down his spine as they found his way into his hair. They were both breathing heavily and completely wrapped up in each other, when the cab driver came to a halt.

“We’re here.”

-

It took Jeff a lot longer than usual to get into his apartment. 

He was drunk, a lot drunker than he thought he would be. Grabbing hold of his key and holding it straight was a bit of a harder task than it should’ve been. And it didn’t help that he had Annie behind him, her hand under his shirt, feeling his muscles. She said she couldn’t wait to find out what he had “hidden under there” (his jaw almost hit the floor when that sentence came out of her mouth in all honesty.) 

After several attempts of trying to shove the key into the door, he finally managed it. He pushed it open, and the two fell inside, giggling to each other. He flicked the light switch and winced as the bright lights flickered onto their faces.

“Welcome,” he waved his arm, showing off his apartment. It was a bit of a bachelor pad, most of the furnishings were grey and neutral, the whole place looked simple and clean. 

“Ooh, so this is where the Winger magic happens,” Annie looked around tentatively. 

“You want anything?” Jeff ignored her comment and gestured towards the kitchen. His previous experience with women was a can of worms he definitely didn’t want to open with Annie, or at all really.

“Water?” she smiled and watched him leave the room to fulfil her request. She took her time to wander around the room, glancing at the little relics he had. One single photo frame with an image of him and Noah, a couple toys dotted on the floor in a corner, a mug that said “World’s Best Dad” on it. How cute.

Jeff returned with two glasses, both full to the brim with water. He thought they probably could both use something to sober them up a little. 

“Here you go, Miss Edison,” he handed her the glass with a smile. “I hope you haven’t been snooping through my stuff.”

“You don’t have much to snoop around in.”

“Woah, are you saying my interior decorating is lacking?”

“It could do with a little something,” Annie said as she sat down on the sofa.

“You know what I could do with,” Jeff started to say as he sat down next to her, but was interrupted when she pressed her lips firmly against his. Oh well, he got what he wanted. 

He didn’t know quite when he had resorted to his teenage antics, but they must have been sat on the sofa making out for ages. He didn't seem to mind that, however. Annie had managed to strip Jeff of his shirt, and his fingers traced her thighs, teasing her with his soft touch.

“Bedroom?” he asked when he finally pulled away. As much as he was enjoying this, he could think of something a whole lot better they could be doing. Involving a lot less clothes. She nodded and pulled herself off of the sofa. Before she could even think of walking, not that she knew where to go, Jeff picked her up and flung her over his shoulder, and they both broke out into a fit of laughter as he carried her towards his room. He wasn't really sure why he had done it, but it was funny 

He kicked the door open and walked inside. Jeff decided to keep the lights off, though the room was dimly lit by the street light that shone in through the blinds. He gently moved to put her down on the bed, and then crawled on top of her, hovering over her body and drinking in the sight of her, the way the moonlight shone across her perfect face. 

He could watch her for hours.

He looked down at her, still in her dress. “It seems a bit of an inequality is happening here,” he gestured at his bare torso, and then at her, fully dressed, laying on the bed. 

“Not my fault,” she smiled innocently.

“Oh, it’s definitely your thought, Miss I-Want-To-See-Your-Abs.”

“You were just waiting for a chance to show them off anyway.”

He leaned it and pressed a soft, gentle, quick kiss on her lips. 

“Let me even the scoreboard.” He said, and she rolled over slightly so he could unzip her dress. 

He pulled downwards to no avail. And again, nothing. And again, no movement.

“Uh… Annie? I think this might be broken.”

She shot up and tugged at the zipper herself. Crap, it really was stuck.

“Uhhhhh...” she started to panic, she wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry, and Jeff had no clue what to do either. He stood up, paced around the room a little, feeling helpless. 

“Maybe we can tug it off?” he offered. It seemed like the most logical thing to do. 

“Please,” she begged, her voice laced with fear. She didn’t want to rip the dress as it wasn’t hers, but now that she couldn’t get out of it, the panic had set in. She stood up and held her hands up expectantly, waiting for him to pull the garment off. 

Jeff grabbed the bottom hem and pulled upwards, but the fabric did little to shift upwards. It was just too tight. 

“Shit.”

“What?”

“It won’t come off.”

“IT WONT COME OFF?” she repeated. Annie said it over and over again in a softer voice, almost convincing herself that was the true. Then she started laughing. 

It was infectious. Plus, the situation was hilarious. He was getting cock-blocked by an actual piece of clothing. That was a first. 

In unison, they both fell onto the bed in a fit of laughter. Maybe it was funnier because they were drunk and horny, and it seemed so crazy that something as small as a tight dress could put a stop to them, but they couldn’t stop themselves giggling.

Once the excitement died down, they rolled over to look at each other, still smiling dopily.

He couldn’t quite believe it all. That she was actually here, lying on his bed, and they weren’t even having sex. Who was this new Jeff Winger she seemed to bring out of him? 

“M’sorry…” Annie whispered, as her eyes began to close. Jeff yawned next to her. “S’okay…”

They both were asleep within moments, still half-dressed, over the covers. Their bodies were just touching, her feet wrapped between his legs, his hand draped across her waist. 

This so wasn’t the normal Jeff Winger. But it all honesty, it was the best nights sleep he had ever had.


	10. The Morning After

Suddenly she woke, her head pounding, her eyes wincing at the daylight that spilled into the room through the blinds. Annie sat up slightly in the bed and glanced around, trying to make sense of everything. 

Ah, there was Jeff to her right, his face crammed into his pillow, his hand on her thigh. Biting her lip, Annie tried to piece together what she could remember from the night before. The bar, the shots, the kisses… It all made sense now. 

She reached down under the covers and felt her dress twisted around her body. Oh yeah, she couldn’t get it off. She stifled a laugh, holding her hand against hers lips so she wouldn’t make any noise, wouldn’t wake Jeff. 

She turned to look at him. He looked surprisingly small in the comfort on his bed – ok he could never look small, but he was all curled up. He looked so sweet and vulnerable, a side she thought must be rare to see.

Her lips curved into a smile as she looked at him. She hoped he wouldn’t wake up and catch her staring, but in all honesty, what else was there to do? It would’ve been rude if she got up and left or started tip-toeing around his apartment, poking her nose in his things. 

A panic set in. What if he regretted everything the moment he woke up, and all this was ruined? She sank back into the bed, content with lying here and enjoying this peaceful moment for a bit longer. 

“Enjoying the view?” Jeff’s voice was gruff and low, filled with sleep. 

Annie startled, and her eyes whipped up to catch his, except his were still closed. Damn, he was too good, she thought as she rolled her eyes.

“Good morning,” she said in her chipper voice, despite the hangover. 

“Morning,” he shifted in the bed, lifting his hand off of her thigh to stifle a yawn. 

She tried not to be too disappointed over the loss of body-to-body contact. She did quite like the warmth of his hand on her skin, it was comforting.

He glanced at the clock beside him, 12:00pm. Then he leant back into the bed, finally looking at Annie. She still looked great, with her bedhead and hazy eyes. He showed her a toothy grin and watched her, taking in the sight of her wrapped up in his sheets.

She was watching him too, both just silently taking in the night before, suddenly reminded of little moments, funny memories. Annie couldn’t quite make sense of it all. How it took a few drinks and some friendly encouragement to lower her inhibitions enough to do something that she had only dreamed of doing but was too scared to act on it. And now here she was, tangled in his bed sheets, drinking in the way he still looked all too put together in the morning. 

Eventually Jeff got up and headed to the kitchen. Annie took this as a cue to get ready, after all, she did have stuff to do today, and now that she was sobering up, she felt a bit awkward sitting here. It felt like she was intruding into his day.

She wasn’t sure whether to acknowledge last night with Jeff or ignore the whole evening altogether and just try to act normal. It all felt so strange. She had never had a one-night stand before. All her sexual escapades were with prevous boyfriends, and her luck in the relationship department had been minimal at that. So this was all new territory for her. 

He reappeared into the bedroom with two cups of coffee, he handed her one and they both stood silently and sipped. 

“I should probably head home,” Annie let out a breath she didn’t even realise she was holding, but then she realised she had no idea where she even was. Plus, she was still in last-nights clothes, and a revealing dress wasn’t exactly her usual Sunday afternoon attire. “Could you call me a cab please?”

“Sure,” Jeff grabbed his phone on the night-stand and tapped away. “It’ll be here in 5.” 

They both stood awkwardly, looking at each other but unsure what to say. Annie usually prided herself in her ability to deal with any situation with ease, but when it came to Jeff, she always felt a bit flabbergasted, like her mind had been wiped clean and all she could think of was him.

“Thanks,” she smiled at him. She watched as he wandered into the kitchen again without a word and looked around for something. She followed him out the room, and spotted a stack of post its and some pen on the coffee table, so she grabbed one, wrote a little message, and stuck it on the table. 

“Here’s my number should you need anything :)”.

Jeff strolled back in, his phone buzzing in his hand. “It’s here,” he announced calmly.

She followed him to the door and turned to say goodbye as she was leaving.

“Last night was nice,” he said, and planted a kiss on her cheek. It was an unexpected gesture, and the butterflies returned to her stomach the instant his lips met her skin.

“It was, thank you. I’ll see you around, Jeff,” she returned, and kissed him on the lips. Just a peck. And with that, she turned to walk away, acting calm, cool and collected.

She heard the door close behind her and wondered when she would hear from him again. The ball was officially in his court – she had left him her number after all. She wondered if he'd call or text, when she'd see him again. Was he going to avoid her like he was before? At this point, she had no idea.

“Hey Annie,” she heard and looked up to find a random blonde woman walking towards her. The voice was taunting, almost teasing her. Like the girl was trying to embarrass her. She had never seen her before, so there was no reason for the girl to even know her. Especially as she was in the opposite side of town in Jeff's apartment building where she had never been before.

“How do you know my name?” 

“Uhhhhh.” The blonde froze in her tracks and tried to pretend that Annie wasn’t there. She picked up her phone and gestured to it, but Annie knew she was covering up for something. She watched as the blonde hurried towards her door, carrying on a fake conversation, and headed into the apartment next to Jeff’s. She couldn’t help but feel something was going on there.

-

When she got home, Troy and Abed were on the sofa, watching TV. 

“Look who it is,” Troy called out as she walked into the room. He stood up and wagged his finger at her. “Annie Edison, where have you been?” 

“We were worried sick!” Abed continued the joke, pretending to chastise her. 

“Sorry, I should’ve said I was staying out.” 

The boys turned to each other and laughed. 

“We’re not mad Annie. Did you have a good night?” Troy sat back down and patted the seat next to him, offering her a chair so they could all talk. She gladly accepted his offer and plopped down on the sofa, kicking her heels off to the side of the room. 

“Yes I did actually. Surprisingly good,” she gushed, unable to stop the smile that spread across her face. The boys shot each other a look. 

“So you saw Jeff?” Abed asked knowingly. Troy turned to him and gasped; he wasn’t as fast nor as intuitive as his best friend.

“Maybe…” Annie blushed.

“I know you did, you smell like his cologne, I’m fairly certain it's his anyway.” 

“So Annie, don’t leave us in suspense. What happened?” Troy’s eyes were wide, he seemed more surprised at everything than she was when it was actually going on.

“Well, we kissed. A lot. And I did go back to his, but nothing more happened, actually. I woke up fully dressed, I swear.”

“Ok...” Troy stated, he didn't really want to hear about Annie's sex life, or lack thereof - she was like a sister to him and thought of her doing anything was a little gross. “So, are you guys gonna go on a date or something?”

“Oh, I don’t know…” Annie hadn’t even had a chance to properly think about what it all meant, let alone what would happen from here on out. And she knew the minute she was alone, it would probably be all she could think about – the nervousness of not knowing what was going to happen, how they’d be with each other. “I guess that’s up to Jeff.” 

“Stay tuned, folks,” Abed announced, and looked off into the distance, as if he was searching for some sort of secret camera to react to. Annie and Troy laughed next to him, and they all settled to watch some more daytime TV and just relax.

Annie then spent the rest of the evening having a little TLC for herself. She had texted Katie asking if it was ok if she damaged the dress a little – having had been zipped into it for most of the day, Annie wanted nothing more than to get into some comfy clothes, so she had to cut herself out with Abed and Troy's help.

Her pyjamas were calling her name. She spent the rest of the evening surrounded by work and singing along to Adele. She even offered to make the boys dinner, and hummed over the stove making her Grandma's special soup. 

"You know what that means," Troy whispered to Abed as Annie served up. 

"She's falling for him." Abed pointed out. "I hope she starts cooking breakfast for us too."


End file.
